Jianzhi Sengcan

Sengcan (Chinese僧璨, Pinyin Sēngcàn, W.-G. Seng ts'an; jap僧 灿, Sosan; † 606) was the third patriarch of Chan in China.

According to legend, Sengcan had leprosy and was therefore rejected by Huike initially and finally with the argument that the highest way make no difference, but accepted as a student.

Sengcan is considered the author of the first didactic poem in the tradition of Chan ( Zen), the Xinxinming (信心 铭, Xinxin Ming), the " inscription on the confidence in the Spirit," (in Japanese Shinjinmei ). In these verses Sengcan tries to bring all of the Zen teaching in a poem to express. The emphasis is on non-duality and the distance company of aversion and affection and the departure from the separation of past, present and future. The Xinxinming is an example of the integration of the teachings of Buddhism and Daoism.